United confirm Hargreaves switch

Monday 1 January 2007 00:06 BST

Owen Hargreaves will join Manchester United on July 1.

The Old Trafford club have confirmed a deal has been completed with Bayern Munich for the England international and with personal terms agreed and a medical passed, all that is required now is for the 25-year-old to officially sign what is expected to be a five-year contract.

"Manchester United is delighted to announce that it has agreed terms with Bayern Munich for the transfer of Owen Hargreaves," said the statement.

"The player has also agreed terms with the club and passed his medical. Owen will formally sign his contract with Manchester United when he returns from his holiday at the end of June and will join on July 1, 2007."

The announcement ends a year-long pursuit of the Calgary-born star by Sir Alex Ferguson and comes less than 24 hours after United revealed they had agreed transfers in principle for Anderson and Nani from Porto and Sporting Lisbon respectively.

Ferguson made a concerted effort to bring Hargreaves to Old Trafford after the World Cup, in which the midfielder turned out to be one of England's few success stories.

Hargreaves left no-one in any doubt he wanted to make the move, only for Bayern to block the deal fearing supporter unrest after losing Michael Ballack to Chelsea.

Ferguson was hopeful of resurrecting the deal in January but those plans were scuppered when Hargreaves - who has family which hails from Bolton - broke his leg on club duty against Arminia Bielefeld in September.

However, there was little doubt the United boss was determined to push the transfer through once the season was over and Bayern's failure to qualify for next year's Champions League only made it more certain Hargreaves would end up at Old Trafford.

Although no fee has been mentioned, it is thought to be around the £17million mark.